Glossary of Terms

401(k) plan:: Created under section 401(k) section of the Internal Revenue Code, it allows employees of private corporations to set aside money for retirement on a pre-tax and tax-deferred basis through an account overseen by the employer.
403(b) plan:: Similar to the 401(k) plan, this plan was created for non-profit corporations to allow employees to take advantage of the same tax incentives benefits as for-profit corporations.
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs):: A set of basic tasks - eating, locomotion, toileting, continence maintenance, dressing and bathing - that are used to measure an individual’s functional capacity.
Aging in Place:: Individuals have resided in the same place for a long period of time, have aged, and would like to remain in the same residence.
Assisted Living:: A combination of housing, supportive services, personal assistance and health care that is designed for those who need help with activities of daily living.
Bikkur Cholim:: “Visiting the sick.” Throughout most of Jewish history, this commandment was considered binding on all Jews. An extensive series of ordinances and suggestions were drawn up to guide people making sick calls.
Capitation:: A uniform payment or fee that is multiplied by the number of people receiving services, regardless of the amount of services actually delivered by a social service agency.
Care Coordination:: Similar to a case manager, a skilled worker coordinating a plan of care for an individual. This plan includes (but is not limited to) socialization programs, medical services, financial planning and nutrition.
Case Management:: A process used by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional to manage one’s health care. Case managers arrange for needed services, and track use of facilities and resources.
Case Manager:: A nurse, doctor, or social worker who arranges all services that are needed to provide proper health care to a patient or group of patients.
Catastrophic Health Insurance:: A limited health insurance program with benefits that primarily cover emergency care on a limited basis.
Claims Conference:: A non-governmental organization (NGO) that was established in 1950 for the purpose of securing material compensation for Holocaust survivors.
Community Profile:: A steering committee’s perceptions and knowledge of community factors such as general demographics, community value, diversity, interest groups, needs, funding sources, community assets and any other critical issues related to aging or other planning topic.
Comprehensive Planning or Macro Approach:: A type of planning that includes a study of factors external and internal to the community that affect varied groups, the service delivery system and trends to provide an extensive assessment of the community and its needs. It relates current events and anticipated trends with results generally intended to provide a multi-year policy and action framework.
Congregate Meals:: Agencies or community centers providing opportunities for individuals to eat meals in a group setting. Individuals can all reside on the same campus, or a bus can deliver them to centers for meals.
Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC):: Provide shelter, social activities, health care, and support systems under a contractual agreement. They are usually campuses with most residents living in their own private apartments. CCRC campuses usually include an assisted living facility and a nursing home.
Continuum of Care:: This is a comprehensive, client-oriented system of services for the elderly composed of two parts. The first element is the services, including health care, mental health care, social services, transportation programs, and housing for the elderly. The second ingredient is a cluster of coordinating mechanisms, which make it a system rather than a fragmentary collection of services. Coordinating mechanisms include community planning, care coordination or case management, coordinated financing, integrated management information systems, and unified administration structures.
Emergency Response System:: A device that is installed in the residence of an older adult that automatically notifies emergency services in case of an emergency. The device is easy to operate and usually requires a single touch or pull of a cord to activate.
Entitlement:: A federal or state program that guarantees certain covered services for any individual who meets the eligibility criteria.
Ethical Will:: Similar to a will, it bequeaths property to heirs with ethical directions.
Financial/Medical Power of Attorney:: A legal instruments that provides an agent with authority to act on behalf of another individual when that person is unable to make their own medical or financial decisions.
Gemilut Chasadim:: “Acts of loving kindness.” This is a special type of mitzvah and one that is performed with no expectation of reward. Some examples include giving to charity anonymously, extending an interest-free loan to a person in need, attending to the dead, providing hospitality, and visiting the sick.
Guardianship:: Picking a person (i.e. family member, attorney, caregiver, social worker, or case manager) to assist with financial planning and life planning.
Homesharing:: A mutual housing agreement between a landlord and renter. An older adult chooses to rent out a room in exchange for services or companionship allowing the older adult to remain in his or her home as long as possible.
Hospice:: An organization or program that provides care and comfort to people who are dying. It includes physical care, pain control, and counseling, and its main focus is on making people comfortable and the end of life.
Individual Retirement Account (IRA):: Provides tax-advantaged savings for investors. IRAs are used as effective method for long-term savings since savings in tax deferred accounts can be compound quicker than those in taxable account.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs):: Activities that need to be done on a daily basis in order to survive. Examples include grocery shopping, taking care of personal finances, using a telephone, paying bills, and doing household chores, such as cleaning, cooking and laundry.
Kavod Av v’Em:: “Honor and fear your father and mother.” Both men and women are obligated to carry out this mitzvah. Fear: “One must not stand or sit in his father’s place, or contradict his words, or uphold another in an argument against him.” Honor: “One must feed his father, give him drink, bathe him, anoint him, clothe him, shod him, and bring him in and take him out.”
Living Will:: A legal document that directs a physician to engage in a set type or amount of medical treatment, when the patient is unable to speak.
Long-term Care (LTC):: LTC is the comprehensive range of medical, personal, and social services developed and coordinated to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs of chronically ill and disabled people of all ages. These services are designed to meet needs over a long period of time and may be delivered in an institution, in the community, or in a person’s residence.
Long-term Care Insurance:: Insurance benefits that covers the needs older adults across the continuum of care over a long period of time.
Meals on Wheels:: This national program delivers hot, nutritious meals to homebound elderly, and is the single most common eldercare program funded or run by local Federations and affiliate agencies. Jewish organizations often join this effort in order to ensure the availability of kosher food and Shabbat meals for Jewish clients, when they are needed.
Medicaid:: This is a joint federal-state entitlement programs enacted in 1965 that provides health and long-term care benefits to poor and disabled individuals.
Medicare:: A federal entitlement program enacted in 1965 that finances health care for people aged 65 and older, people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease.
Micro Approach to Planning:: This narrower approach to planning targets specific needs and outcomes, focusing on individual community sectors or problems that have been identified for attention.
Mitzvah/Mitzvot:: A command of G-d. The word mitzvah means “commandment.” In its strictest sense, it refers only to the 613 commandments instituted in the Torah; however, the word is commonly used in a more generic sense to include all of the laws, practices and customs of halakhah, and is often used in an even more loose way to refer to any good deed.
National Family Caregiver’s Support Program:: This is a multi-faced program to give assistance and support to caregivers. It is funded through the Older American’s Act and is comprised of five service categories: information; assistance; counseling; support groups, and caregiver training; respite care; and supplemental services.
Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC):: Housing complexes (apartments, condominiums, public housing, or neighborhoods of individual homes) in which people have “aged in place” and want to remain. Typically, young families moved in, raised their children, and never left. Decades later, there remain concentrated pockets of older people throughout the country who are living in dwellings that cannot provide appropriate services or a supportive physical environment.
Older Americans Act:: Enacted in 1965, the Older Americans Act (OAA) created the Administration on Aging which authorized grants to states for community planning and services programs, as well as for research, demonstration and training projects in the field of aging.
Opportunistic or Resource Driven Planning:: This type of planning is engaged when funding, staff or other resources are made available for specific initiatives or when an emergency or crisis arises. This approach is usually situation specific, shorter term, and may not necessarily relate to other community planning processes or objectives.
Planning:: The act of determining what services are needed in a community, making plans to deliver services and allocating dollars in order to provide a continuum of care for individuals of all ages and needs.
Planning Recommendation and Position Statement:: An articulation of intent and commitment, positioning aging as a community concern and priority for attention, examination, and change. This position statement may include the case for planning, expected outcomes, suggested planning parameters, costs, and time frame.
Roth IRA:: A variation on the Individual Retirement Account in that assets grow federally tax-free. With a Roth IRA you never have to pay taxes on your earning provided certain requirements are met.
Section 202 Housing:: The Section 202 federal housing program, first established in 1959, provides nonprofit organizations with loans to construct, maintain, and rehabilitate affordable housing for low-income elderly. Federation agencies operate more than 100 Section 202 housing facilities. This program was reauthorized in 2000.
Section 8 Vouchers:: The Section 8 federal housing program was established in 1974 and provides vouchers to elderly with low-incomes to pay for part of their rent. The Section 8 vouchers can be used either for private apartments or to pay for rent in Section 202 facilities.
Social Security:: Social Security is a government retirement program and family protection plan.
Social Service Inventory:: A tool designed to measure perceptions regarding the utility function and priority of community services for the aged.
Social Services Block Grant (SSBG):: A federal program first enacted in 1975 as Title XX of the Social Security Act that passes money through to states for programs that service a number of at-risk populations, including the elderly, and pays for such services as adult day care and mental health counseling. The variety of programs using SSBG funds is different in each state.
Spend Down:: An individual has spent so much of their estate on medical or long-term care bills, that they now qualify for public assistance.
Supportive Neighborhoods:: An innovative Israeli program that allows older adults to age in place with eldercare services centralized in the community.
Tikkun Olam:: “Repair of the world.” This refers to the betterment of the world, including relief of human suffering, the achievement of peace and mutual respect among peoples, and the protection of the planet from destruction. These values are deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.
Tzedakah:: “Righteousness, justice, or fairness.” In Judaism, giving to the poor is not viewed as a generous or magnanimous act; it is simply an act of justice and righteousness, the performance of a duty, giving the poor their due. Giving to the poor is a duty that cannot be forsaken even by those who are themselves in need. Some sages have said that tzedakah is the highest of all commandments. The obligation to perform tzedakah can be fulfilled by giving money to the poor, to health care institutions, to synagogues or to educational institutions.
Waiver:: A voucher that entitles a person to receive services, or an exception granted by the federal government that allows states to bypass some of the formal requirements of a federal program.
Will:: A legal document that states how a person wishes to allocate his or her estate after death.

This glossary is made possible through the UJC Continuum of Care Report created by United Jewish Communities Human Services and Social Policy Pillar and Washington Action Office.